A mother accused of murdering her two-year-old daughter has claimed her partner kicked and stamped on the toddler every day in the week before her death while they were staying at temporary housing in Ipswich.
In her second day in the witness box during her trial at Ipswich Crown Court, Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell said Scott Jeff had repeatedly assaulted her daughter Isabella Wheildon between June 19 and 26 last year and accepted she had done nothing to protect her.
During her evidence on Monday (November 4) Gleason-Mitchell gave details of the events leading up to Isabella’s death on June 26 at East Villa in Sidegate Lane, Ipswich.
She had made spaghetti bolognaise for dinner and claimed that Jeff had then hit Isabella with one of his trainers when she didn’t settle at bedtime.
Gleason-Mitchell said she had a shower and watched TV before noticing Isabella was having difficulty breathing.
“Isabella was using her mouth to say something was wrong or hurting but she couldn’t get the words out.”
She said she and Jeff had performed CPR on Isabella and Jeff had done an online search about what they should do.
Cross-examined by Jeff’s barrister Christopher Paxton KC, Gleason-Mitchell accepted she hadn’t told police after her arrest that Jeff had kicked and stamped on Isabella every day.
“I had so much information I was trying to get out and some bits must have missed my mind,” she said.
When she was shown a Father’s Day card in which she described Jeff as “the best dad ever” she said that although he had hit Isabella and put her in cold showers to punish her she thought it was only a stage while Isabella was being potty trained.
She said she hadn’t given Jeff the card on Fathers Day on June 19 last year and he had found it on a table.
She denied a suggestion from Mr Paxton that she had written the words “best dad ever” because that’s what Jeff had been.
She also denied that she was the one who had beaten and killed Isabella and that she was jealous of the close bond between Isabella and Jeff.
She denied that Isabella had wanted to be comforted by Jeff and not her when she was upset because she was the one who was abusing her.
Gleason-Mitchell admitted making up allegations in the past about the the way her former partner had treated her but denied she was doing the same thing during the trial by making up allegations about Jeff’s behaviour towards Isabella.
Jeff and Gleason-Mitchell, both 24 and of no fixed address, have denied murdering Isabella between June 26-30 last year.
In addition to denying murder, Jeff has also denied causing or allowing the death of a child between June 26-30 last year and two offences of cruelty to a child.
Gleason-Mitchell has pleaded guilty to causing or allowing the death of a child and two offences of cruelty to a child under 16.
The trial continues.
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